Chapter 261 Reconstruction and Change, Villagers, the Future...
Lai and his group arrived in Eaton early, so they didn't linger and rented a carriage in the city before leaving.
After a short day's journey, we finally arrived in Rosen Town on the morning of the second day.
Looking at the bare ground, Lai could hardly believe that this was once the somewhat crowded town.
Apart from the stone buildings, almost all the houses were completely destroyed.
He led Neil and Tata on a tour of the town, where they saw many residents carrying stones and logs on their shoulders, seemingly rebuilding their houses.
Centered around the city lord's mansion and the central square, the buildings are being gradually rebuilt.
The first buildings completed were the City Lord's Mansion, the Church, and the Magic Guild.
The Duke of Emeric appointed a new lord for Rosen – the town will be built to the size of a small city.
As a crucial hub where Eaton Forest and the Third Territory intersect, Rosen Town holds a very important position and cannot be left unreconstructed.
Since there are very few houses left here, why not replan and build a new city?
The new town will absorb residents from surrounding villages and another small town.
Four destroyed towns in different geographical locations were merged into two new cities.
This decision was made by the Duke of Emerick after several discussions with his staff.
The new city lord, having experienced the war between Eton City and the demons, is a very shrewd strategist. Under his leadership, the new city will usher in a new era.
The original Rosen town has now been renamed "Watertown," symbolizing resilience and unwavering courage.
You can find out these things by simply stopping someone and asking.
Many artisans from Eton City have moved into the city, and shops such as grain stores that support the basic livelihood of residents are also operating normally.
Although these shops are just a few temporary wooden huts, they have quietly supported all of everyone's basic needs.
After learning the basic situation, Lai and his group walked back to the small mountain village.
All the cattle and horses that could be seen in the city were hauling building materials; there were no extras available for rent.
The road from Rosen to the small mountain village wasn't too far; walking back would be a way to learn about the post-war situation.
So Rye chose to walk.
Tata had been trained by his father in the Great Forest of Eton for a period of time, so this distance was no problem for him.
The trees and flowers that used to grow along the road have all turned to ashes, leaving the road bare and giving the impression that something is missing.
This is no longer the road that used to lead back to the small mountain village.
Lai and Neil had walked this road countless times, but it had never felt so unfamiliar to them as it did now.
Seeing this scene, the two remained silent the entire way.
That's what war is all about.
They bring victory to the rulers, and leave the pain to the common people.
It's not that time heals all wounds, but rather that as time passes and the race proliferates generation after generation, those past wounds are forgotten.
In the end, it becomes just a few lines in history books. Then, at some point, it is used by smooth talkers and flatterers as a tool to please others.
Lai and Neil followed the route they remembered for a long time until they saw smoke rising slowly in the distance, which confirmed their location of the small mountain village.
The small mountain village is no longer the small mountain village it once was; it's more like a messy wasteland now.
"Ray, Neil, is that you?"
Recognizing Lamb by his signature reddish-brown curly hair, the two immediately recognized him as the muscular man opposite them, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.
He's already over two meters tall, making people wonder what he ate to grow so tall.
"Lamb!"
"Ah! It really is you! I'll go tell Father and the others!"
They barely met, and before they could exchange more than a few words, Lamb dashed back like the wind.
The two had no choice but to continue walking towards the village, where they encountered several familiar faces along the way.
They were the two grandsons of the clan elder Barnett. They had grown into two young men, and Ray almost didn't recognize them.
"Is that Neil?"
"yes."
Neil answered with a laugh. The younger brother nudged his older brother with his elbow.
"See! I told you they were two brothers!"
"You came back today?"
"Hmm. Are many people returning from the village?"
"Ray asked."
“Not many. Including the two of you, only eight households have returned so far, but Uncle Mark and Aunt Maggie separated their households, so it should be counted as two households.”
Mark's daughter is Little Leaf, and Ray helped deliver her.
He still remembered his family. Aunt Maggie was a very difficult person to deal with; she used to argue with the uncles and aunts in the village all the time.
As the four were talking, Hagrid and Linda arrived with their entire family.
The two brothers from the clan elder's family tactfully said goodbye, leaving Aunt Maggie with the question of why her family had split up.
"I'm back!"
Hagrid hugged Neil first, then gave Ray a hug.
Linda pulled Neil around, looking him up and down, her eyes filled with undisguised heartache.
"This child seems to have lost weight."
Ray greeted the three Hagrid brothers in turn.
It was lunchtime, and the group of people returned to their temporary lodgings in a lively atmosphere.
"This doesn't seem to be the original location of the village."
Lei raised his own questions.
"No, that's not it."
As Hagrid spoke, he took a puff of his pipe.
"The village was in ruins, and something had been scattered in the fields, making it impossible to plant anything. In spring and summer, not even a blade of grass sprouted."
The original location of our village was somewhat problematic, so Barnett and I discussed it again and moved the entire village eight kilometers towards the new town.
This area will be our village from now on.
"Um."
This area used to be wasteland. The clan elder went to the city lord's mansion to report it, and that was the end of that matter.
After lunch, Hagrid led the brothers, Ray and Neil, on another tour of the area.
Only a few households have returned so far, and it is unknown whether more will return.
So the houses of the families who returned were built almost side by side.
We'll leave the main road clear, and everyone can discuss and agree on how much space they need and which location they want.
Hagrid reserved two spots for Ray, both quite large, and let him choose.
Unsurprisingly, Lei chose the one that was farther away.
“This place is big, I plan to take two houses, and keep one for Neil.”
"Okay, just register with Barnett."
Hagrid said with a chuckle.
Given Lei's current financial resources, building two houses together wouldn't be a problem.
But this was too conspicuous, and Neil didn't want to separate from Rye so soon.
After several unexpected incidents, everyone has become aware of the shortcomings of wooden houses, so this time they unanimously chose to build brick or stone houses.
Not far from the small mountain village, there is another village where the villagers make a living by making earthenware pots and large vats.
It's because there's a lot of clay and pottery there.
Now, with the support of Eton City, that village has become an official kiln.
They specialized in firing bricks to sustain the construction of the new town. Villagers from nearby areas could also buy bricks there.
This is also why people choose to build brick houses.
The price was a bit higher, but it saved a lot of manpower. The two factors offset each other, and after doing the math, it turned out to be cheaper than building a wooden house.
The trees in the surrounding area suitable for building houses have been burned down, and the timber has to be transported from farther away.
There is no shortage of timber, but the transportation costs and the manpower required for felling trees are a huge expense.
Many people died fighting the demons, and now there is an extreme shortage of labor.
It is precisely for this reason that the measures of merging villages and towns were taken.
Where there is a home, there is hope. No matter how difficult life is at home, it is better than wandering in a strange place.
This is the simple thought of the villagers in the small mountain village, and it is also an important reason why they resolutely chose to return to their hometown after the situation stabilized.
We have the site and the materials to build the house, but the biggest problem now is that we don't have enough manpower.
Therefore, the first things built in the village were the threshing ground and the warehouse.
With the combined efforts of the entire village, the warehouse must be repaired before winter arrives this year.
With fewer people now, each family gets one or two rooms, so we should be able to get through this winter.
If everyone is scattered and looking after their own homes, they will definitely not be able to repair their own houses before winter arrives.
We are really short-handed right now.
The warehouses over at the threshing ground have been mostly repaired, so everyone is now busy repairing their own houses.
When Hagrid mentioned the lack of people, Ray suddenly remembered the Iru family, whom he had settled on the other side of the hill.
I wonder how they are now, and whether they have escaped the demons' attack.
Thinking about this, he couldn't help but feel a little worried.
However, the low mountain is too far away, and it's not very safe to walk there without horses or mules.
This matter can only be put aside for now.
He and Neil were temporarily staying in a small room in the warehouse; the matter of building a house still needed to be considered in the long run.
In the past few days, Lai has also learned about the current basic situation in the village through Linda.
Besides them, the clan elder's family, Helen, Maggie, Kaz, Lamb's friends' families, and several other acquaintances also returned.
I heard there are two more households on the way.
Actually, this number is considered high by local standards, and many people don't plan to come back.
As for the reason why Mark separated from his family, Linda, being well-liked, learned a thing or two from Mark's wife, Ivy.
The main reason is that Ivy intentionally exposed the scumbag things Maggie did.
Here, separating families is not encouraged.
Children who separate from their parents usually do something wrong that their parents can no longer tolerate.
Mark's initiative to propose dividing the family property to the clan elders was a first in the surrounding area.
Doing this will damage your reputation and make you look down on by others.
Ivy didn't want her husband to face those cold stares, so she decided to go all out and expose Maggie's secrets.
The story goes back to the beginning of the war, when Barnett urged everyone to flee and seek refuge.
Maggie's family sought refuge with their son-in-law, the man who was more than ten years older than her eldest daughter.
Because she had been asking her daughter for money for many years, the eldest daughter's life in her husband's family was not easy until she successfully gave birth to a boy.
In times of crisis, it's not uncommon for the mother-in-law's family to seek refuge with the son-in-law. The important thing is for both families to help each other and weather the storm together.
But unexpectedly, after things finally settled down, Maggie started acting like a domineering mother-in-law again, causing chaos for her eldest daughter's family.
Mark couldn't stand it anymore and forcefully moved his family out.
Life gradually returned to normal, and Mark and his younger brother, being the strong laborers of the family, went out to earn money to support them.
Maggie and her husband take care of the household chores, but they don't really do any housework. Ivy and Mark's sister do most of the work, and they just help look after Little Leaf.
Even so, Maggie was still not satisfied. She argued at home every day, complaining that she hadn't seen any meat for months, complaining that raising children was useless, and even cursing Ivy for giving birth to a money-losing child who couldn't carry on the family line.
Ivy suffered a severe injury during childbirth and is now unable to conceive.
Whether Maggie got carried away with her rant and blurted out whatever came to mind, or whether that's what she truly meant, nobody knows.
Mark threw another tantrum, and only then did things finally settle down at home.
This lasted for a month.
They thought Maggie had changed her personality, but one day, a group of people came to their house and said they wanted to marry Mark's sister.
It turned out that Maggie married her off to a local family whose wife had died in order to make their lives easier.
During the years of fleeing, one thing after another piled up in Mark's heart, finally causing this well-known honest man to explode.
He chased away the so-called brother-in-law and returned the few gold coins that Maggie had received.
But from then on, no matter how much Maggie yelled and cursed at her, she never gave her a kind look again.
Then the war ended, and they returned to their small mountain village, where they separated.
Mark was afraid that his sister would be sold by their mother again, so he took her in as well.
“It’s all his own doing. If you ask me, Mark is completely blameless.”
Linda commented.
Ray witnessed the diversity of species once again.
A few days later, Temujin returned in a mule cart.
Lei was right to entrust Guge to Temuji; he took good care of Guge.
The old man looks very energetic; he could easily live another ten or eight years.
With the mule cart, Lai finally had the opportunity to visit Iru and the others at the low hills.
The goblins lived well; they had no shortage of food or drinking water, and were not even affected by the war.
Ray wanted to have the foundation of the house laid before winter began.
But it's impossible for him and Neil to do it together, and they can't hire anyone right now.
Iru and his group have plenty of manpower available...
Ray told Hagrid about his plan, and Hagrid considered its feasibility.
Now that no one is using it, the goblins are helping with the work, which is a good thing for the whole village.
He took Lai to the clan elder's house.
Barnett neither said yes nor no.
Lai made up his mind to ask each house, promising to keep the goblins in check.
This matter was finally agreed upon by everyone. Of course, except for Maggie and Katz. Their opinions can be disregarded.
In any case, construction on Lai's house finally began.
The following spring.
Water City welcomed a large number of residents returning to their hometowns, as well as orcs who had migrated here.
The manpower shortage problem has been solved.
With everything in place, the construction of the house was accelerated.
In the autumn of the same year, brand-new houses sprang up in the small mountain village.
Everyone finally ushered in a stable life.
Time flies, and years pass quickly.
People who have experienced war cherish their hard-won life even more.
Watertown is still expanding and being built, and more and more people are moving here to settle down.
Even small mountain villages have taken in several beastmen families.
This phenomenon is truly a once-in-a-century occurrence.
With the promulgation of the Royal City's Equal Rights Law, mixed-race individuals gained the same rights as pure-blood individuals.
Watertown has completely degenerated into a mixed-use city.
Humans, orcs, hybrids, elves living in the Great Forest of Eton, and goblins all flocked to this small town.
People are active in Watertown, giving the whole city a new vitality.
As "resident goblins," Iru and his companions gained recognition as city lords with the guarantee of Baron Lai.
In other words, they officially became members of Water City and no longer had to live a life of hiding.
But they did not settle down in the small mountain village.
According to their wishes, Lai bought a piece of land far from the crowd and gave it to Iru as a gift, to serve as their settlement.
Iru and the others had grown accustomed to that reclusive life. This choice was actually for their own good, since discrimination couldn't disappear overnight.
As for Guge, he is too old to need to build a new house.
Ray took him into his home, and he and Neil took care of him together.
Of course, most of the time it was just the two of them at home, guarding the huge house and the greenhouse.
Ray believed that since Neil had awakened his magical talent, it was necessary for him to continue his studies.
At his age, it's the perfect time to work hard.
After allowing Neil nearly two years of freedom, he was banished to the magic academy in Canberra, the capital of the Third Territory.
Neil was naturally reluctant, but when Ray took a hard line, he had no choice but to compromise.
With Timothy's help, Ray finally figured out what the little Easter egg Golden Oak had left for him was.
That little gadget, like the one Temuji gave him, was a magical item that could form a protective shield.
However, its power is far beyond what Temuji can compare to.
In the name of a donation, Lai built a statue in the center of the small village. He then concealed it in a pedestal to protect the village's safety.
Ray remembered the great gift from Golden Oak.
Every time he came here, Lai would treat him very warmly and even give him a small piece of dragon bone.
Both sides were delighted and felt they had come out on top.
Wealth will eventually run out, but fate always brings unexpected surprises.
As alchemy continued to develop, the uses of energy stones were increasingly discovered, and their prices began to rise.
That low hill in Lei, which wasn't highly regarded by everyone, is actually a genuine mine.
Guge and Haige both knew about this.
Lai, who was once destitute, suddenly achieved true financial freedom in the magical continent.
But Ray did not become complacent because of this; he continued to live his fulfilling and busy life.
They circled around the plants in the greenhouse and the livestock at home.
Hagrid joked that Rye was more like a farmer than he, a farmer who had been working the land for decades.
Ray happily accepted Hagrid's praise and continued his search for rice.
Guge is getting old after all.
He did not live to see his runaway youngest daughter return; he passed away in a bountiful autumn.
He didn't leave behind much.
There were only some letters to his wife and a gift for his daughter.
The elf Xio later took away Guge's ashes, allowing him to rest in peace in the elven kingdom where flowers bloom forever.
That same year, on a winter morning, Ryan's voice echoed in Ray's mind once again.
"Long time no see, Ray."
"Long time no see, Ryan."
Humans on the continent of Casa have very long lifespans, and Lai's adventures on the continent are far from over.
——The End
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Author's note: Thank you all for your support over the past two years. The story of Lai Yi has come to a temporary end.
I originally planned to write down my thoughts after finishing the book. (After all, it was my first novel.)
But when the moment actually arrived, I didn't know what to say.
In short, thank you all for your support. Without your company, this novel would not have come this far.
Thank you so much, I'm truly, truly grateful.
May our friendship last forever, see you in the next book!
P.S. If you'd like to see any extra episodes, leave a comment at the latest pinned post [heart emoji]
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